The activities of Seppuku Warriors resulted in an invitation to merge with Evolution and most of our combat pilots made the shift. Yup, I'm now a BoB biatch!
The Communism thing feels a little strange. Everything is a corp op. But the flip side is that the hangars are full and I'm flying ships that I would never buy out of my own pocket.
For example, the call went out for Guardian pilots. I'd never flown one, but just for giggles, I checked my skills against the ship/fit & determined that I could handle the ship, the remote reppers & the cap transfers. So, I raised my hand and a Guardian was dropped in my hangar & off we went. Setting up the cap transfer web was accomplished in short order. It's pretty amazing to see all those large reppers running & cap never dropping below 80%!
Yesterday, I logged in to hear a large fleet fight underway 35+ jumps away. I grabbed an interceptor & sprinted to the fight. By the time I got there, the fight had evolved into a planet chase. I managed several tackles & almost got popped a couple of times. In the end, I swapped my Stilleto for an Apoc, saving my pod.
I'll make that trade any day!
I'm still toying with new graphics, so let me know your feelings on the latest header.
Back to Chicago tonight. O/
Monday, September 7, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
RL is a bitch & other ramblings...
I've been away from these pages & mostly out of game for about 6 weeks now. I'm on extended assignment in the Chicago area, and as much as I love the folks and facilities at the Hilton, trying to play Eve on their wireless connection is like trying to drink a milkshake through a juice box straw. Technically possible, but practically unsatisfying & very frustrating.
I've priced AT&T air cards, but I'm afraid that the 5GB / month bandwidth cap wouldn't be sufficient. (If you have personal experience that you'd like to share, I'd certainly welcome your input!)
In the meantime, I'm online as much as I can be when I'm home every other weekend, wishing I could take my FIOS connection with me!
The project team I'm on includes guys of all ages and I let my true colors slip early on in a meeting when I judged a proposed course of action "a fail cascade waiting to happen". After the meeting wrapped, one of the 20-Somethings asked "Uhmm.... Are you a... well... a gamer?". I shrugged & replied "Well, I have been known to take internet spaceships fairly seriously." He still hasn't decided if I'm jacking with him or telling him the truth. ;P
In game, I'm turning my attention toward Black Ops. With the addition of a fuel bay, this class of hulls is going to be very interesting in the future. Black Ops + Cov Ops + Stealth Bombers & Recons = the potential for a very interesting style of roaming gang.
Seppuku has merged and you'll soon see new graphics here. For now, this will have to do:
I've priced AT&T air cards, but I'm afraid that the 5GB / month bandwidth cap wouldn't be sufficient. (If you have personal experience that you'd like to share, I'd certainly welcome your input!)
In the meantime, I'm online as much as I can be when I'm home every other weekend, wishing I could take my FIOS connection with me!
The project team I'm on includes guys of all ages and I let my true colors slip early on in a meeting when I judged a proposed course of action "a fail cascade waiting to happen". After the meeting wrapped, one of the 20-Somethings asked "Uhmm.... Are you a... well... a gamer?". I shrugged & replied "Well, I have been known to take internet spaceships fairly seriously." He still hasn't decided if I'm jacking with him or telling him the truth. ;P
In game, I'm turning my attention toward Black Ops. With the addition of a fuel bay, this class of hulls is going to be very interesting in the future. Black Ops + Cov Ops + Stealth Bombers & Recons = the potential for a very interesting style of roaming gang.
Seppuku has merged and you'll soon see new graphics here. For now, this will have to do:
Monday, June 29, 2009
Blog Banter - It's the Scotch
This story is submitted as a part of the latest Blog Banter Challenge. The names have not been changed, but some folks may appear in unexpected places and a few identities should be obvious, even without names.
++++++++++
Smoke. Peat. Honey. Heather. Just enough burn to remind you there was alcohol involved.
cr8rmaker wasn't quite sure where on Old Earth 'Scotland' had been, much less who the hell 'Glenn Morangi' was, but an appreciation for single malt scotch was one of the things he took away from his time at university.
The Old Man wouldn't have really shot the new bartender if the noob had gotten within three feet of the Old Man's glass with those ice cubes. At least, cr8r didn't think so. But, the Old Man had apparently gone off the deep end, leaving the safety of Empire for the lawlessness of null sec, so nothing was ever certain.
Another swirl of the glass.. Another sip..
His recent promotion within Trends and Analysis at The Secure Commerce Commission afforded him a few indulgences. That economic review of strategic cruiser production was well received by the suits, it seems. Upgrades to the CONCORD database access routines that allowed that analysis to be completed also pointed out some unusual loss circumstances. He'd have to have lunch with one of the guys from Loss Prevention and see if they were aware of the anomalies.
++++++++++
This was not going to be pretty, Jake was sure of that. 80/20 that he would not be the head of Loss Prevention in another hour. Even money that he'd be dead. Hardly gambler's odds, and gambling with the CEO of The Secure Commerce Commission was not recommended. She rarely lost. At anything.
The portal to Acacia's office slid silently aside. She was staring out the duraplast window that overlooked the undocking port. Her left hand held a small crystal glass and an earthy aroma infused her vicinity. Her right hand held a compad. Her left foot tapped slowly on the stone floor.
Shit.
Still facing outward, over her shoulder she said, “Jake, if this is your idea of a joke, it's not the least bit humorous.”
“I assure you, madam, there's nothing remotely humorous about it and the only joke appears to be on us.”
Turning, she swirled the amber liquid in the glass and emptied it.
“So, your telling me that we have been paying out insurance claims on ships lost to CONCORD across the breadth & depth of New Eden? For years. For. Years. FOR EFFING YEARS???” The last wasn't so much voiced as hurtled into space with the intensity of a full BlasterThron broadside.
“It appears so. Until the last upgrade, our datafeed from CONCORD didn't include information about who was responsible for the loss of insured ships. We just were informed that a hull with an in-force insurance policy was lost and we automatically issued payments. I assure you that I'm just as personally appalled at the immorality of such payments as you are and...”
“Immorality? IMMORALITY??? Jake, you pompus pommey bastard! It has nothing to do with 'immorality'!” she interrupted.
His confusion sealed his fate...
Her voice turned calm, with a tinge of sadness. “Jake, it's bad business. We collect 5.2 million isk in premiums from a squad of Thorax cruisers and 8.8 million isk from a Hulk pilot. The Thoraxes gank the Hulk in Empire and we pay out nearly 47 million isk in claims. An Amarr High Priestess can't pray that equation into balance! A preliminary review indicates we've paid out trillions of isk to people who were concordonkened. Trillions! How do you think the shareholders are going to take that lovely bit of news, Jake?”
His cosmetic permatan failed to hide the departure of blood from his face. Morals were one thing, but mucking up profits was a serious matter.
Turning back to the window, she asked softly, “Who else did you let in on this, Jake? Who else knows?”
“ORE. I... I asked if ORE could correlate what we were seeing with the demand for mining hulls.”
Silently, she crossed the room to the bar in the corner. Pouring an inch from a squat bottle into her glass and draining it without her customary swirl, she keyed her compad.
Her call was answered before the first ring ended... “Captain Nuff, Internal Security...”
++++++++++
The wormhole pulsed. It almost seemed alive, didn't it?
The unknown side of wormholes provided a convenient place for clandestine activities of all shades. Circuitous routes were the norm for getting to wormhole space, making it easier to ditch tails. Reception committees could be arranged for those that didn't belong and ships losses in wormhole space were to be expected. Those nasty Sleepers.
Secrecy was paramount. New Eden didn't need to know about The Meetings. Seeing representatives of the hull manufacturers, pirate factions and certain select ladies and gentlemen of 'convenient morals' gathering convivially together just wouldn't do. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
“Well, brosefs, it was good while it lasted, eh?” intoned one of the more infamous of the group, raising a small globe of dark liquid in salute.
“You really think they will cut off insurance payments for CONCORD losses?” the red headed woman standing by the bar asked?
The head of Duvolle Labs, looked up from admiring her stern aspect, winked and raised his own glass in appreciation. “Well, m'dear, once they figure out the economics of it, they won't have much choice. The mining and transport unions have already started asking some uncomfortable questions. Soon, there will be a full fledged media melt down. Followed shortly by an investigation. With the mood of shareholders since the EBANK incident, it's quite likely the entire leadership team will get spaced if their current business practices continue. The Secure Commerce Commission may be slow off the mark, but they aren't completely daft. They have to make changes.”
Smiling at both the comment and the unspoken compliment, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, holding the gentleman's attention and mused “Well, eliminating all of the insurance payouts would require more, shall we say, judicious target selection on the part of those pilots that engage in that particular line of business.”
The chuckle from behind the bar, was sincere. “Ah, lassie, they canna lop off all the payments! Losing customers with appropriate connections would be bad for business, eh? Now, then, who needs some more of Clansman Glenn Morangie's Finest?”
++++++++++
Specific recommendation:
Insurance payouts for losses to CONCORD limited to 10% of normal payout value.
Limit adjusted upward by 1% for every level of the following skills:
Financial Connections
Political Connections
Bureaucratic Connections
++++++++++
Smoke. Peat. Honey. Heather. Just enough burn to remind you there was alcohol involved.
cr8rmaker wasn't quite sure where on Old Earth 'Scotland' had been, much less who the hell 'Glenn Morangi' was, but an appreciation for single malt scotch was one of the things he took away from his time at university.
The Old Man wouldn't have really shot the new bartender if the noob had gotten within three feet of the Old Man's glass with those ice cubes. At least, cr8r didn't think so. But, the Old Man had apparently gone off the deep end, leaving the safety of Empire for the lawlessness of null sec, so nothing was ever certain.
Another swirl of the glass.. Another sip..
His recent promotion within Trends and Analysis at The Secure Commerce Commission afforded him a few indulgences. That economic review of strategic cruiser production was well received by the suits, it seems. Upgrades to the CONCORD database access routines that allowed that analysis to be completed also pointed out some unusual loss circumstances. He'd have to have lunch with one of the guys from Loss Prevention and see if they were aware of the anomalies.
++++++++++
This was not going to be pretty, Jake was sure of that. 80/20 that he would not be the head of Loss Prevention in another hour. Even money that he'd be dead. Hardly gambler's odds, and gambling with the CEO of The Secure Commerce Commission was not recommended. She rarely lost. At anything.
The portal to Acacia's office slid silently aside. She was staring out the duraplast window that overlooked the undocking port. Her left hand held a small crystal glass and an earthy aroma infused her vicinity. Her right hand held a compad. Her left foot tapped slowly on the stone floor.
Shit.
Still facing outward, over her shoulder she said, “Jake, if this is your idea of a joke, it's not the least bit humorous.”
“I assure you, madam, there's nothing remotely humorous about it and the only joke appears to be on us.”
Turning, she swirled the amber liquid in the glass and emptied it.
“So, your telling me that we have been paying out insurance claims on ships lost to CONCORD across the breadth & depth of New Eden? For years. For. Years. FOR EFFING YEARS???” The last wasn't so much voiced as hurtled into space with the intensity of a full BlasterThron broadside.
“It appears so. Until the last upgrade, our datafeed from CONCORD didn't include information about who was responsible for the loss of insured ships. We just were informed that a hull with an in-force insurance policy was lost and we automatically issued payments. I assure you that I'm just as personally appalled at the immorality of such payments as you are and...”
“Immorality? IMMORALITY??? Jake, you pompus pommey bastard! It has nothing to do with 'immorality'!” she interrupted.
His confusion sealed his fate...
Her voice turned calm, with a tinge of sadness. “Jake, it's bad business. We collect 5.2 million isk in premiums from a squad of Thorax cruisers and 8.8 million isk from a Hulk pilot. The Thoraxes gank the Hulk in Empire and we pay out nearly 47 million isk in claims. An Amarr High Priestess can't pray that equation into balance! A preliminary review indicates we've paid out trillions of isk to people who were concordonkened. Trillions! How do you think the shareholders are going to take that lovely bit of news, Jake?”
His cosmetic permatan failed to hide the departure of blood from his face. Morals were one thing, but mucking up profits was a serious matter.
Turning back to the window, she asked softly, “Who else did you let in on this, Jake? Who else knows?”
“ORE. I... I asked if ORE could correlate what we were seeing with the demand for mining hulls.”
Silently, she crossed the room to the bar in the corner. Pouring an inch from a squat bottle into her glass and draining it without her customary swirl, she keyed her compad.
Her call was answered before the first ring ended... “Captain Nuff, Internal Security...”
++++++++++
The wormhole pulsed. It almost seemed alive, didn't it?
The unknown side of wormholes provided a convenient place for clandestine activities of all shades. Circuitous routes were the norm for getting to wormhole space, making it easier to ditch tails. Reception committees could be arranged for those that didn't belong and ships losses in wormhole space were to be expected. Those nasty Sleepers.
Secrecy was paramount. New Eden didn't need to know about The Meetings. Seeing representatives of the hull manufacturers, pirate factions and certain select ladies and gentlemen of 'convenient morals' gathering convivially together just wouldn't do. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
“Well, brosefs, it was good while it lasted, eh?” intoned one of the more infamous of the group, raising a small globe of dark liquid in salute.
“You really think they will cut off insurance payments for CONCORD losses?” the red headed woman standing by the bar asked?
The head of Duvolle Labs, looked up from admiring her stern aspect, winked and raised his own glass in appreciation. “Well, m'dear, once they figure out the economics of it, they won't have much choice. The mining and transport unions have already started asking some uncomfortable questions. Soon, there will be a full fledged media melt down. Followed shortly by an investigation. With the mood of shareholders since the EBANK incident, it's quite likely the entire leadership team will get spaced if their current business practices continue. The Secure Commerce Commission may be slow off the mark, but they aren't completely daft. They have to make changes.”
Smiling at both the comment and the unspoken compliment, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, holding the gentleman's attention and mused “Well, eliminating all of the insurance payouts would require more, shall we say, judicious target selection on the part of those pilots that engage in that particular line of business.”
The chuckle from behind the bar, was sincere. “Ah, lassie, they canna lop off all the payments! Losing customers with appropriate connections would be bad for business, eh? Now, then, who needs some more of Clansman Glenn Morangie's Finest?”
++++++++++
Specific recommendation:
Insurance payouts for losses to CONCORD limited to 10% of normal payout value.
Limit adjusted upward by 1% for every level of the following skills:
Financial Connections
Political Connections
Bureaucratic Connections
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
New location = new perspective on some ships
Seppuku has moved into 0.0 space for an extended period of time. Living here is very different from living in Empire in many, many ways (logistics, log off spots, logistics, tactics, logistics, intel... Oh, and did I mention logistics?).
Not the least among those differences is the value/utility that I see in certain ships & weapons systems.
Normal disclaimers apply: The opinions expressed here are mine & mine alone. I don't speak for anyone else. Your mileage may vary. Consult your physician if you experience... well, you know.. ;)
Here are a few items that I have a greater appreciation for:
Stealth Bombers
Bomb launchers turn this from a so-so battleship attack platform in Empire to a nasty, nasty gate camp crasher in null sec. A co-ordinated flight of 4 or 5 can pass out large helpings of hurt with near impunity.
Blockade Runners
Their speed in Empire is their main plus, but in null sec, the ability to provide stealthy logistics support is a huge advantage. I wish I could fly one with both my main and my alt.
Gunnery Support Skills
Early on in Eve, I started down the path of training to fly a T2 rail fit Rokh. The idea of sniping at insane ranges was the draw and now, as I start to cross train other races and other weapons, having those support skills nearly maxed makes it much less painful to start flying, say a T2 fit Zealot.
F10 & Statistics
I'm spending way more time looking at the statistical displays in map mode than I ever did in Empire.
A few things that are more 'meh' in null sec compared to Empire:
Missile Boats
And by extention, sadly, most Caldari ships. As far as I can see, the underlying reason is simply flight time. Darrell Royal might say "Three things can happen when you shoot missiles and two of them are not so good for you." (Your missile hits or by the time your missile arrives your target has already popped from the focused fire of your gang or by the time your missile arrives your target has left.)
Battleships
Not saying that they are not useful, but they are no longer the top of the food chain.
Haulers
Targets, really. That's about it. ;P
Not the least among those differences is the value/utility that I see in certain ships & weapons systems.
Normal disclaimers apply: The opinions expressed here are mine & mine alone. I don't speak for anyone else. Your mileage may vary. Consult your physician if you experience... well, you know.. ;)
Here are a few items that I have a greater appreciation for:
Stealth Bombers
Bomb launchers turn this from a so-so battleship attack platform in Empire to a nasty, nasty gate camp crasher in null sec. A co-ordinated flight of 4 or 5 can pass out large helpings of hurt with near impunity.
Blockade Runners
Their speed in Empire is their main plus, but in null sec, the ability to provide stealthy logistics support is a huge advantage. I wish I could fly one with both my main and my alt.
Gunnery Support Skills
Early on in Eve, I started down the path of training to fly a T2 rail fit Rokh. The idea of sniping at insane ranges was the draw and now, as I start to cross train other races and other weapons, having those support skills nearly maxed makes it much less painful to start flying, say a T2 fit Zealot.
F10 & Statistics
I'm spending way more time looking at the statistical displays in map mode than I ever did in Empire.
A few things that are more 'meh' in null sec compared to Empire:
Missile Boats
And by extention, sadly, most Caldari ships. As far as I can see, the underlying reason is simply flight time. Darrell Royal might say "Three things can happen when you shoot missiles and two of them are not so good for you." (Your missile hits or by the time your missile arrives your target has already popped from the focused fire of your gang or by the time your missile arrives your target has left.)
Battleships
Not saying that they are not useful, but they are no longer the top of the food chain.
Haulers
Targets, really. That's about it. ;P
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Mission Accomplished
Link to Hi res version... If there's any doubt as to how you make it, look closely at the inscription on her ring.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wanderings of a Carebear
Kirith asks where have you been in Eve.
I was interested in that question, so I dumped the map below (click for the full view):
Pretty much what one would expect for a Caldari carebear. The few dots in Syndicate are recent and the result of Seppuku's HQ in Stacmon. I can't remember what I was doing in the fall of 2007 that had me out in the north east Indian Country.
Could be interesting to review this in 90 days or so and see what changes...
[Queue ominous music as Our Hero scans the horizon & mutters "It's quiet.... Too damn quiet... Security! Send a 2 man redshirt recon team to sweep the perimeter."]
Tum tum TUUUUUUMMMMM!
;P
I was interested in that question, so I dumped the map below (click for the full view):
Pretty much what one would expect for a Caldari carebear. The few dots in Syndicate are recent and the result of Seppuku's HQ in Stacmon. I can't remember what I was doing in the fall of 2007 that had me out in the north east Indian Country.
Could be interesting to review this in 90 days or so and see what changes...
[Queue ominous music as Our Hero scans the horizon & mutters "It's quiet.... Too damn quiet... Security! Send a 2 man redshirt recon team to sweep the perimeter."]
Tum tum TUUUUUUMMMMM!
;P
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Blog Banter - Bribe the Docking Bay Manager
This month's topic comes to us from Ga'len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility. He asks: "What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe? Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a 'nerf this, boost my game play' post like we see on the EVE forums"
Simple.
I want to be able to bribe the docking bay manager to toss you and all your corpmates that I'm at war with out of a station.
The fee would be on a per ship basis and would create a 1 hour cooldown where OPFOR couldn't dock at the same station, but my corp can't kick OPFOR out from any station until the cooldown lapses.
Thirty seconds of warning time to the kickee.
Would put a crimp in station hugging & ship spinning.
Simple.
I want to be able to bribe the docking bay manager to toss you and all your corpmates that I'm at war with out of a station.
The fee would be on a per ship basis and would create a 1 hour cooldown where OPFOR couldn't dock at the same station, but my corp can't kick OPFOR out from any station until the cooldown lapses.
Thirty seconds of warning time to the kickee.
Would put a crimp in station hugging & ship spinning.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Here's to new ships & stuff!
My buddy Eyedoll passed me a sniper fit Curse that I tweaked a little to get this:
And then I looked at the neut range and the neut amount....
Hmmm... 1 cycle caps out just about every cruiser hull & smaller... From 75km+ (named for 75km.... Faction will give you 88.6km)... Interesting... You'd be in falloff for Falcon's & Rooks and sensor strength of 28 means they will be having a hard time anyway... A little bit of DPS from the drone bay...
Certainly not a solo ship, but lots of ways to be useful in a small gang of HACs & Recons.
So, I undocked it and got various corpmates & alts to play target. We played with interceptors, Falcons, Blackbirds, logistics, battlecruisers and battleships. As you might expect, the smaller the hull, the more devastating the attack. 'Ceptors trying to burn to me were capped within 10-15k of crossing the 75km line. Cruisers took longer to cap, but covered about the same ground.
Bottom line is that I'll be flying this for real to see how it performs and how targets react to a Curse engaging them from 75km. I was hoping to do that already, but the last mercs that were hired to dec us retracted when their employer failed to uphold thier end of the bargin. Pity.
In other news:
- All of the battleships and pods lost in the Korsiki POS battle are in the process of being restored by petition. GM's can tell the difference between desynchs and disconnects, even if others who fail to understand game mechanics do not. Falsely accusing someone of employing logoff tactics is pretty lame and might be taken personally, if we cared.
- After watching Yue carve up everything in the sky with a Zealot, I've rearranged my training plan a bit. 12 days and I'll be fitting out one of those little monsters & asking Yue for lessons in flying it. The gold ships seem a little strange to me, though... Subconsciously, I'm afraid that it will 'glint' in the sun & give away my location! ;)
- The LT is on the manifest for the last 4 BCT 1 CAV flight out of the sandbox. 2 weeks +/- should see him home.
- Melissa Dawn started a new trend in Seppuku sigs that feature a more, shall we say, 'bare bones' approach to swords. Here's my newest take:
[Curse, New Setup 1]When I first started looking at it, I was very skeptical. The whole fit is designed to allow you to squeeze a large neut on a cruiser hull. It is gimped in so many different ways that I was tempted to not even undock it.
Reactor Control Unit II
Reactor Control Unit II
Reactor Control Unit II
Reactor Control Unit II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Large Shield Extender II
Drone Link Augmentor I
Drone Link Augmentor I
Drone Link Augmentor I
Ammatar Navy Heavy Energy Neutralizer
Improved Cloaking Device II
Ancillary Current Router I
Ancillary Current Router I
Hammerhead II x5
Warrior II x10
Vespa EC-600 x5
And then I looked at the neut range and the neut amount....
Hmmm... 1 cycle caps out just about every cruiser hull & smaller... From 75km+ (named for 75km.... Faction will give you 88.6km)... Interesting... You'd be in falloff for Falcon's & Rooks and sensor strength of 28 means they will be having a hard time anyway... A little bit of DPS from the drone bay...
Certainly not a solo ship, but lots of ways to be useful in a small gang of HACs & Recons.
So, I undocked it and got various corpmates & alts to play target. We played with interceptors, Falcons, Blackbirds, logistics, battlecruisers and battleships. As you might expect, the smaller the hull, the more devastating the attack. 'Ceptors trying to burn to me were capped within 10-15k of crossing the 75km line. Cruisers took longer to cap, but covered about the same ground.
Bottom line is that I'll be flying this for real to see how it performs and how targets react to a Curse engaging them from 75km. I was hoping to do that already, but the last mercs that were hired to dec us retracted when their employer failed to uphold thier end of the bargin. Pity.
In other news:
- All of the battleships and pods lost in the Korsiki POS battle are in the process of being restored by petition. GM's can tell the difference between desynchs and disconnects, even if others who fail to understand game mechanics do not. Falsely accusing someone of employing logoff tactics is pretty lame and might be taken personally, if we cared.
- After watching Yue carve up everything in the sky with a Zealot, I've rearranged my training plan a bit. 12 days and I'll be fitting out one of those little monsters & asking Yue for lessons in flying it. The gold ships seem a little strange to me, though... Subconsciously, I'm afraid that it will 'glint' in the sun & give away my location! ;)
- The LT is on the manifest for the last 4 BCT 1 CAV flight out of the sandbox. 2 weeks +/- should see him home.
- Melissa Dawn started a new trend in Seppuku sigs that feature a more, shall we say, 'bare bones' approach to swords. Here's my newest take:
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Final thoughts on Ivy Dec
The Ivy dec has been completed. The conditions of our contract were all met or exceeded.
I've struggled to communicate the sincerity of my personal feeling that, for me, the dec was nothing personal and that the view that all who try to blow you up in Eve are scum, vermin or subhuman is not only factually wrong, but detrimental to the game.
The doubters and the haters are entitled to their opinion and throughout the discussion, both here and on the Seppuku public boards, they have been able to express those opinions freely and without restriction.
Actions speak louder than words and to demonstrate my sincerity, the following BPC's have been contracted to Azmodeus Valar DirLog of Eve University:
Megathron 3X ME40 PE15
Dominix 3X ME 30 PE15
Drake 5X ME35 PE10
Vexor 5X ME35 PE15
Harbinger 5X ME45 PE48
Blackbird 5X ME30 PE10
Stabber 5X ME30 PE15
Cormorant 10X ME75 PE60
Merlin 30X ME38 PE20
250mm Rails 300X ME100 PE50
Cataclysm 3000X ME75 PE75
Devastator 3000X ME50 PE50
Paradise 3000X ME50 PE50
Wraith 3000X ME50 PE50
Ogre I's 1500X ME120 PE120
Combat Probes 3000X ME50 PE25
Scan Probes 1000X ME40 PE40
Cargo Rigs 50X ME365 PE10
I'll have nothing more to say about Ivy and Uni.
Regards,
DC
I've struggled to communicate the sincerity of my personal feeling that, for me, the dec was nothing personal and that the view that all who try to blow you up in Eve are scum, vermin or subhuman is not only factually wrong, but detrimental to the game.
The doubters and the haters are entitled to their opinion and throughout the discussion, both here and on the Seppuku public boards, they have been able to express those opinions freely and without restriction.
Actions speak louder than words and to demonstrate my sincerity, the following BPC's have been contracted to Azmodeus Valar DirLog of Eve University:
Megathron 3X ME40 PE15
Dominix 3X ME 30 PE15
Drake 5X ME35 PE10
Vexor 5X ME35 PE15
Harbinger 5X ME45 PE48
Blackbird 5X ME30 PE10
Stabber 5X ME30 PE15
Cormorant 10X ME75 PE60
Merlin 30X ME38 PE20
250mm Rails 300X ME100 PE50
Cataclysm 3000X ME75 PE75
Devastator 3000X ME50 PE50
Paradise 3000X ME50 PE50
Wraith 3000X ME50 PE50
Ogre I's 1500X ME120 PE120
Combat Probes 3000X ME50 PE25
Scan Probes 1000X ME40 PE40
Cargo Rigs 50X ME365 PE10
I'll have nothing more to say about Ivy and Uni.
Regards,
DC
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Situational Awareness: A Must for EWAR Pilots
If you are an EWAR pilot, one of the first things you need to understand is that there are times when you don't want to jam or damp a WT out of the fight. Doing so only helps him and hurts you.
For example, tonight a Uni fleet of 15-20, including a Scorpion, at least 2 Blackbirds and at least 2 Celestis, was holding on the Osmon gate in Korsiki. I was in an Onyx offgrid to the gate and had 5 or 6 support offgrid of the Korsiki gate in Osmon. The plan was for me to solo warp to the gate at zero and tackle the Scorpion and hold him down long enough for the support fleet to hit the gate & jump.
I landed on the gate and immedately tackled the Scorp & started tossing a few heavies at him to keep him occupied. I started receiving return fire from the Uni fleet and was having no issue tanking when the all of the Uni EWAR hit. I was jammed and damped before my second volley was fired. Doing so was a huge tactical mistake by the Uni EWAR pilots.
Why?
Because as long as I was agressing, my cool down timer for gate jump wasn't starting to run. As soon as I was jammed, that cooldown timer begins and I am free to jump system when it expires, but the folks that were jamming and/or shooting would not be able to follow the jump! So, since I was able to tank their damage output, I could have jumped and evaded as soon as the gate would let me.
In that situation, EWAR pilots should only jam or damp as a measure of last resort. You want me to stay agressed so that I can't jump. FC should also be considering jumping a few tacklers to the other side of the gate (assuming FC knows it's clear) to catch me if I de-agress and jump. You want to soak up my DPS so you can trap me on the gate and kill me.
Our support jumped in and Uni left the field with no losses on either side. I had a conversation with the FC later & we talked about the situation. He was unaware that jamming me allowed the cooldown timer to start.
Guess there's a few more Uni pilots that have picked up some valuable insight as a direct result of our war.
For example, tonight a Uni fleet of 15-20, including a Scorpion, at least 2 Blackbirds and at least 2 Celestis, was holding on the Osmon gate in Korsiki. I was in an Onyx offgrid to the gate and had 5 or 6 support offgrid of the Korsiki gate in Osmon. The plan was for me to solo warp to the gate at zero and tackle the Scorpion and hold him down long enough for the support fleet to hit the gate & jump.
I landed on the gate and immedately tackled the Scorp & started tossing a few heavies at him to keep him occupied. I started receiving return fire from the Uni fleet and was having no issue tanking when the all of the Uni EWAR hit. I was jammed and damped before my second volley was fired. Doing so was a huge tactical mistake by the Uni EWAR pilots.
Why?
Because as long as I was agressing, my cool down timer for gate jump wasn't starting to run. As soon as I was jammed, that cooldown timer begins and I am free to jump system when it expires, but the folks that were jamming and/or shooting would not be able to follow the jump! So, since I was able to tank their damage output, I could have jumped and evaded as soon as the gate would let me.
In that situation, EWAR pilots should only jam or damp as a measure of last resort. You want me to stay agressed so that I can't jump. FC should also be considering jumping a few tacklers to the other side of the gate (assuming FC knows it's clear) to catch me if I de-agress and jump. You want to soak up my DPS so you can trap me on the gate and kill me.
Our support jumped in and Uni left the field with no losses on either side. I had a conversation with the FC later & we talked about the situation. He was unaware that jamming me allowed the cooldown timer to start.
Guess there's a few more Uni pilots that have picked up some valuable insight as a direct result of our war.
A few responses
If nothing else, it appears that this blog is serving to allow some discussion back and forth between the various folks involved and that's fine with me.
Comment threads are hard to follow, so I'm working on some alternatives, but for now, I'll pull out a few specific items and respond here to keep things moving along.
From Rodney:
My suggestion was simply that a Director has to have flown with someone else, not that they serve in a position of leadership. DirLog (for example) could bring a much broader perspective of the logistics opportunities available to players having served in a corp that is focused strictly on mining or production. Bringing that knowledge back into Uni would be a significant benefit.
I think you would be surprised how many Uni vets and/or Uni supporters would return.
As far as any hypothetical return, I don't think that's in the cards, so speculation about tactical decisions, rather than strategic issues, would only tend to be divisive and draw the focus away from more fundamental questions.
From Ethan:
In terms of the overall mission and fulfillment of our contract obligations, I don't think so. The lag was very pronounced, but those of us who lacked big POS warfare experience learned tons about the appropriate techniques to minimize the lag experienced, to fight through it and be effective. I was surprised at the number of battleships it took. My expectation, based on my time at Uni was that a large Empire faction Deathstar POS would require between 100-150 battleships to take down. Our fleet peaked at around 50 or so.
Uni FC faced a tough proposition being outgunned against a group that was clearly willing to absorb losses to achieve the objective.
From Andrew:
Let me try it this way:
The decision to issue merc contracts against Uni was highly personal for the issuer.
My decision to participate was not personal and remains so. I'm not going to make any isk out of it and didn't expect to do so.
What I did expect was to learn more about how to fight on the outnumbered side of typical Uni engagements and to blow stuff up. I expected that, unlike some Uni opponents, Seppuku would bring the fight early and often and that no one would ever be able to accuse us of dec'ing and then fading into the woodwork.
My expectations have been met so far!
From Kelduum:
There has been a thread discussing that topic almost continuously for years. The root cause is the Catch-22 of needing experienced, skilled combat pilots, but not being able to 1) retain them or 2) recruit them. In any organization, if the big picture attitudes and policies are consistently not allowing objectives to be achieved, then something has to change significantly.
Comment threads are hard to follow, so I'm working on some alternatives, but for now, I'll pull out a few specific items and respond here to keep things moving along.
From Rodney:
"I guess my concern with your suggestions would be that a lot of the experience you talk about seems to be either difficult to obtain for someone who joined another corp for a "sabbatical", or doesn't seem to be any higher-value for being acquired elsewhere, other than the PvP experience aspect.
Wouldn't it also be difficult to find someone who was out there in the real game, away from the Uni, and was willing to give up a big chunk of their time to come back and serve as Eve Uni's Director of Personnel, or Logistics, or Education?"
My suggestion was simply that a Director has to have flown with someone else, not that they serve in a position of leadership. DirLog (for example) could bring a much broader perspective of the logistics opportunities available to players having served in a corp that is focused strictly on mining or production. Bringing that knowledge back into Uni would be a significant benefit.
I think you would be surprised how many Uni vets and/or Uni supporters would return.
As far as any hypothetical return, I don't think that's in the cards, so speculation about tactical decisions, rather than strategic issues, would only tend to be divisive and draw the focus away from more fundamental questions.
From Ethan:
"At any point today was the success of your POS-removal mission in jeopardy? I'm pretty sure it wasn't, we may have had more ships but you had vastly more tonnage. I'm just curious what you have to say about it."
In terms of the overall mission and fulfillment of our contract obligations, I don't think so. The lag was very pronounced, but those of us who lacked big POS warfare experience learned tons about the appropriate techniques to minimize the lag experienced, to fight through it and be effective. I was surprised at the number of battleships it took. My expectation, based on my time at Uni was that a large Empire faction Deathstar POS would require between 100-150 battleships to take down. Our fleet peaked at around 50 or so.
Uni FC faced a tough proposition being outgunned against a group that was clearly willing to absorb losses to achieve the objective.
From Andrew:
"I'm still struck by the apparent split between the "it's not personal" claims, and the arguments we see everyday."
Let me try it this way:
The decision to issue merc contracts against Uni was highly personal for the issuer.
My decision to participate was not personal and remains so. I'm not going to make any isk out of it and didn't expect to do so.
What I did expect was to learn more about how to fight on the outnumbered side of typical Uni engagements and to blow stuff up. I expected that, unlike some Uni opponents, Seppuku would bring the fight early and often and that no one would ever be able to accuse us of dec'ing and then fading into the woodwork.
My expectations have been met so far!
From Kelduum:
"However, there is a discussion topic open on the Directors forum at the moment as to how we can rectify this, but of course, getting everyone in battleships without the ability to fit them properly is never a good idea."
There has been a thread discussing that topic almost continuously for years. The root cause is the Catch-22 of needing experienced, skilled combat pilots, but not being able to 1) retain them or 2) recruit them. In any organization, if the big picture attitudes and policies are consistently not allowing objectives to be achieved, then something has to change significantly.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Here you go....
[Sigh]
When Morning Maniac echoes the call for specific suggestions, the level of respect that I have for him bids me to set aside my own preferences and stop teaching for a moment.
To set the stage, let there be no mistake. My attitude is different now than when I was in Uni. I do not hold the same beliefs about some of the core tenants that were being taught and continue to be taught to this day. I have changed, have never denied it nor do I see that fact as a shortcoming.
Those changes in my perception of those around me are the direct result of leaving Uni and experiencing the EVE universe for myself.
Others left before me and returned with comments and criticism. The conflict and internal drama that these episodes caused contributed to my own leaving. I was wrong to dismiss their viewpoints and cavalierly set them aside simply as the desire to control Uni after departure.
So, I have no memory issues and I'm aware that my viewpoints are different now than they were earlier, thank you. I have no desire to start a clone of Uni. My desire is that Uni continue to evolve in order to present a more accurate portrayal of the game, in all it's complexities.
Suggested 'Big Picture' changes:
- To serve as a Director, a player should have more than three month's experience flying with another corp in their area of expertise.
- Directors should serve staggered terms of not more than 1 year. Repeat terms should be allowed, but only after a 'sabbatical' of three months flying with someone else.
- A full and complete financial report (balance sheet, income statement and isk flow) and report of Departmental activities should be prepared quarterly and released to all involved parties, including students and contributors.
The focus of these suggestions is to make sure that Uni presents a balanced and up to date viewpoint of the game and is accountable to external supporters for Uni's stewardship of their support.
DC
PS
If you continue to hold the mistaken notion that I have some personal enmity for Uni, explain how it is that I refused to employ the power available to me as an operator of the Eve University public channel from the time that I left until that role was removed in the last few hours. What would be more 'personal' than finding out that all of the other operators were removed and that IVY was banned from the channel? I was aware of that opportunity and could have taken that action any time, but yet did not.
When Morning Maniac echoes the call for specific suggestions, the level of respect that I have for him bids me to set aside my own preferences and stop teaching for a moment.
To set the stage, let there be no mistake. My attitude is different now than when I was in Uni. I do not hold the same beliefs about some of the core tenants that were being taught and continue to be taught to this day. I have changed, have never denied it nor do I see that fact as a shortcoming.
Those changes in my perception of those around me are the direct result of leaving Uni and experiencing the EVE universe for myself.
Others left before me and returned with comments and criticism. The conflict and internal drama that these episodes caused contributed to my own leaving. I was wrong to dismiss their viewpoints and cavalierly set them aside simply as the desire to control Uni after departure.
So, I have no memory issues and I'm aware that my viewpoints are different now than they were earlier, thank you. I have no desire to start a clone of Uni. My desire is that Uni continue to evolve in order to present a more accurate portrayal of the game, in all it's complexities.
Suggested 'Big Picture' changes:
- To serve as a Director, a player should have more than three month's experience flying with another corp in their area of expertise.
- Directors should serve staggered terms of not more than 1 year. Repeat terms should be allowed, but only after a 'sabbatical' of three months flying with someone else.
- A full and complete financial report (balance sheet, income statement and isk flow) and report of Departmental activities should be prepared quarterly and released to all involved parties, including students and contributors.
The focus of these suggestions is to make sure that Uni presents a balanced and up to date viewpoint of the game and is accountable to external supporters for Uni's stewardship of their support.
DC
PS
If you continue to hold the mistaken notion that I have some personal enmity for Uni, explain how it is that I refused to employ the power available to me as an operator of the Eve University public channel from the time that I left until that role was removed in the last few hours. What would be more 'personal' than finding out that all of the other operators were removed and that IVY was banned from the channel? I was aware of that opportunity and could have taken that action any time, but yet did not.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
AWK for a couple of days
In anticipation of the LT's return from Iraq, We'll be moving my daughter to the Ft. Hood area over the next few days. Things should be back to normal sometime this weekend.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
ROFLMAO!
Courtesy of Kirith Kodachi
/me goes to eat Cheetoes & watch TNG reruns while writing ADA code by hand on coding sheets.
/me goes to eat Cheetoes & watch TNG reruns while writing ADA code by hand on coding sheets.
Practical Instruction
(Well, the comments have been interesting so far, haven't they?
I'll have more to say about the 50,000 ft issues later, but I'm going to focus on one specific challenge here.)
Generally, the gauntlet thrown down is "How are Uni students going to be better off with this war?"
In addition to all the other stuff that they should be learning, here's what I'm going to do that is totally out of the box.
I'll be commenting on specific ship fits that I find in our killmails that I think will be instructive.
Now, I hope you agree that it's a little unusual that I'd do that publicly and while the war is still active. Aiding & abetting the enemy & all that. Hell, Sabre may put ME on the target list!
I'm willing to take that chance to demonstrate:
- It's not personal
- Ex-Uni can, and will, provide valuable information
- It's not personal
- It is possible to critically review a ship fit without using the words "FAIL", "NOOB" or "LOLFIT" in such a way that guidance is presented not personal criticism.
- It's not personal
As I make my comments, remember, IT'S NOT PERSONAL!
*******************************
Now, I know a thing or two about Caldari EWAR ships, so lets take a look at a few of those:
1. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181229
/me smiles.
Very nice fit, sir! Completely in line with the role of Blackbird as cheap fleet jammer. No rigs. Jam for tank. More than Meta 1 jammers. Sensor booster with scan res script for quick lock. SDA's in the low. MWD allows sprint out to range and 'spank align' (be sure you understand the speed vs sig radius tradeoff). Armor repper in the utility slot to show a fleet mate some love.
The only change I'd make is to load up some faction ammo, not a whole cargo load, but just a few hundred to improve your DPS while you are on the battlefield.
2. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181232
/me smiles.
Another pretty good fit! Lack of AB or MWD means that you will be slow to get out to position. That may be acceptable if you have tons of bookmarks in the systems where you are likely to engage. Lack of a range script for the sensor booster implies that you've rethought this fit post ECM-nerf. With the scan res script loaded, if you can lock at your jam optimal + say 25% then the faster lock time will help you in quickdraw engagements where first lock = first jam.
Mix of jammer meta level indicates that you understand that, too.
Neut in the utility high slot is ok. My personal preference is for an armor repper, but it's just a preference.
FOF's are really out of place on a Blackbird. If you are jammed, you are about to be dead or you should be bouncing out and returning to the fight so your jammers can be effective again. Either way, FOF's just take up space. No real need for all that ammo either. Your role in the fight is ECM, not DPS. Carry a few faction rounds of ecm/kinetic & don't worry about it.
3. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3176145
/me scratches head.
Pre-ECM nerf, this would be close to the fit that I would have been flying. My only nit would be 2x Minnie jammers. Minnie sensor strength is generally lower than the equivilent hull of other races and I mostly jam them with off-race jammers.
Post ECM-nerf, not so much. Sensor booster + range script gives you lock range of about 240, which is more than Optimal + 2X Falloff. In other words, you can lock well beyond the range at which you can jam. Swapping to scan res script gives you lock range of 150, which is just about Optimal + 2x Falloff and reduces locktime.
The key question is, how close to the fight are you planning on engaging? If you are going to standoff at 90-100km (so past Optimal, but within 1X Falloff, accepting the lower success rate of fighting in Falloff) then a sensor booster to improve locktime might be considered.
On the other hand, if you are going to fight at close to Optimal (65km), then you may want to think about swapping that sensor booster for another jammer (ECM tank) or for a LSEII (shield buffer tank).
4. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181230
/me holds head in hands.
Now, I know the Rook is the new FOTM and everyone is hailing the 'new Cerb', but let's calm down a sec, m'kay?
General rules:
- There has to be some very specific purpose if you fit a ship ignoring it's main bonuses.
- Fit to compliment your fleet.
- If you have to use more than 1 low for CPU/PG buffs, you are probably trying to make a hull do something it wasn't designed for or you lack sufficient support skills for the fit.
The Rook is an EW platform. For large fleet actions by a group whose tactical doctrine includes an abundance of EWAR, EW platforms should fit EW.
If you want to sling DPS, a Caracal with 2 BCSII's will output more DPS than this fit at a fraction of the cost and is fully insurable.
*******************
Remember, it's not personal.
DC
I'll have more to say about the 50,000 ft issues later, but I'm going to focus on one specific challenge here.)
Generally, the gauntlet thrown down is "How are Uni students going to be better off with this war?"
In addition to all the other stuff that they should be learning, here's what I'm going to do that is totally out of the box.
I'll be commenting on specific ship fits that I find in our killmails that I think will be instructive.
Now, I hope you agree that it's a little unusual that I'd do that publicly and while the war is still active. Aiding & abetting the enemy & all that. Hell, Sabre may put ME on the target list!
I'm willing to take that chance to demonstrate:
- It's not personal
- Ex-Uni can, and will, provide valuable information
- It's not personal
- It is possible to critically review a ship fit without using the words "FAIL", "NOOB" or "LOLFIT" in such a way that guidance is presented not personal criticism.
- It's not personal
As I make my comments, remember, IT'S NOT PERSONAL!
*******************************
Now, I know a thing or two about Caldari EWAR ships, so lets take a look at a few of those:
1. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181229
/me smiles.
Very nice fit, sir! Completely in line with the role of Blackbird as cheap fleet jammer. No rigs. Jam for tank. More than Meta 1 jammers. Sensor booster with scan res script for quick lock. SDA's in the low. MWD allows sprint out to range and 'spank align' (be sure you understand the speed vs sig radius tradeoff). Armor repper in the utility slot to show a fleet mate some love.
The only change I'd make is to load up some faction ammo, not a whole cargo load, but just a few hundred to improve your DPS while you are on the battlefield.
2. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181232
/me smiles.
Another pretty good fit! Lack of AB or MWD means that you will be slow to get out to position. That may be acceptable if you have tons of bookmarks in the systems where you are likely to engage. Lack of a range script for the sensor booster implies that you've rethought this fit post ECM-nerf. With the scan res script loaded, if you can lock at your jam optimal + say 25% then the faster lock time will help you in quickdraw engagements where first lock = first jam.
Mix of jammer meta level indicates that you understand that, too.
Neut in the utility high slot is ok. My personal preference is for an armor repper, but it's just a preference.
FOF's are really out of place on a Blackbird. If you are jammed, you are about to be dead or you should be bouncing out and returning to the fight so your jammers can be effective again. Either way, FOF's just take up space. No real need for all that ammo either. Your role in the fight is ECM, not DPS. Carry a few faction rounds of ecm/kinetic & don't worry about it.
3. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3176145
/me scratches head.
Pre-ECM nerf, this would be close to the fit that I would have been flying. My only nit would be 2x Minnie jammers. Minnie sensor strength is generally lower than the equivilent hull of other races and I mostly jam them with off-race jammers.
Post ECM-nerf, not so much. Sensor booster + range script gives you lock range of about 240, which is more than Optimal + 2X Falloff. In other words, you can lock well beyond the range at which you can jam. Swapping to scan res script gives you lock range of 150, which is just about Optimal + 2x Falloff and reduces locktime.
The key question is, how close to the fight are you planning on engaging? If you are going to standoff at 90-100km (so past Optimal, but within 1X Falloff, accepting the lower success rate of fighting in Falloff) then a sensor booster to improve locktime might be considered.
On the other hand, if you are going to fight at close to Optimal (65km), then you may want to think about swapping that sensor booster for another jammer (ECM tank) or for a LSEII (shield buffer tank).
4. http://killboard.eve-ivy.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3181230
/me holds head in hands.
Now, I know the Rook is the new FOTM and everyone is hailing the 'new Cerb', but let's calm down a sec, m'kay?
General rules:
- There has to be some very specific purpose if you fit a ship ignoring it's main bonuses.
- Fit to compliment your fleet.
- If you have to use more than 1 low for CPU/PG buffs, you are probably trying to make a hull do something it wasn't designed for or you lack sufficient support skills for the fit.
The Rook is an EW platform. For large fleet actions by a group whose tactical doctrine includes an abundance of EWAR, EW platforms should fit EW.
If you want to sling DPS, a Caracal with 2 BCSII's will output more DPS than this fit at a fraction of the cost and is fully insurable.
*******************
Remember, it's not personal.
DC
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Response by request
Dee, feel free to explain just how you "believe that Uni can serve the new pilots even better than they do today". As has been said many times, anyone is free to set up their own competitor to E-UNI, and anyone doing so is welcome, but if there are things that can be done better now than when you were in charge, you should know I would be willing to hear them.
Personally, I find your attack against the POS, an asset provided to the membership at below public costs as a non-profit project, to be both disappointing and distressing.
So far, I have seen no actions which could be seen as benefiting Eve University, and in fact you threaten the continuance of its mission to educate players in all aspects of Eve.
The fact that after being Director of Operations for so long, you seem to have forgotten your reasons for leaving E-UNI, is what may be the most worrying aspect.
The question stands however - what, precisely would you do differently?
--
Kelduum Revaan
Director of Operations
Eve University
Hmmm... This is going to be a long one, so I encourage you to take a break, get a drink and come back refreshed. ;)
I'll make only a few specific comments about the POS attack last night and then move on from there.
1. The operation last night had no intention of putting the Uni POS into reinforced. Even a cursory examination of our fleet composition would have made that clear.
2. We had hoped to get a fight since you outnumbered us by at least 2 to 1 (force ratio was more in your favor really, as our gang included scouts, pickets & covops and no EWAR). We even sat still for long periods so your probers could get a warp in spot.
3. After more than two hours of plinking away at a few mods, our long range ships were running low on ammo and it was well into the middle of a weeknight, so we headed out.
4. From our side, we received some practical techniques and approaches to POS shooting and RR gangs (including my getting Concordonkened when I launched the wrong set of drones, to everyone's amusement, including my own!)
5. Your guys received some valuable experience in the techniques of POS repping, including how to deal with folks sniping your reppers.
6. No smack in local from our guys, although the Uni can inside the shield named "NO ASS LUBE 4 YOU" was a homey touch, I thought. ;)
Given that the mods were repped up within 12 hours, I fail to see how this could possibly 'threaten the continuance' of anything, much less an organization with the proven resilience and adaptablilty of Uni.
As for forgetting why I left, nothing could be further from the case, as I previously explained.
Which is more honorable? Attacking the POS of a declared WT in Empire or flying co-operatively with others to launch a suprise attack on the low sec POS of a set of 'pirates' that you are not at war with?
Which is more transparent? Openly declaring a NBSI policy everywhere or communicating NRDS (except in space that we claim sov where it's NBSI, but we don't have any 0.0 space, so that's not a player, and in WH space where we still fly NRDS unless someone enters 'our' wormhole, then we fly NBSI and they can figure out which wormhole is 'ours' when we start shooting them... {And that clear cut explanation only came to pass after ex-Uni folks pointed out the disparity between what your policies stated and what your actions demonstrated.})?
Which is more consistent? "See flashy, shoot flashy!" or "See flashy, shoot flashy, but not my Precious!"
Which is more loyal? Caring enough about friends to try and help them get a clearer picture of the world (virtual though it may be) or unilateraly removing the SA rights of the owner of your TS server's agent (who has been providing you TS service for free for years!), deleting all of the owner's corp channels, selectively purging forum access and using your own standings errors to gain changes under threat of refusing to allow those that fly with someone else to ever fly Uni colors again?
Which is more reasonable? To confine discussions of differences to private threads among higher levels of leadership or to openly call for the members of another corp to, in effect, mutiny in a preemptive fashion?
Uni does a wonderful job of teaching the mechanics of Eve, but presents only a limited view of the mindset of Eve. And, in my experience, the mindset presented is not the one that permeates Eve.
It seems to me, the initial question that you might seek to answer is this: "Can so many people that held, or still hold, positions of leadership in the Uni, including multiple DirOps (or equivalent), multiple Directors, multiple Managers and long time vets of the game, accurately, and without malice, see something from the outside about us that we can't see from an internal perspective?"
If you firmly believe the answer to that question is 'no', there is really nothing more to discuss.
If you can honestly answer that question 'yes', I think you will see the next steps clearly, as well.
As I can no longer post in the Alumni section of the Uni boards, you have my permission to link or quote this response (in it's entirety) as you see fit in the thread requesting feedback. Some of your members are crossposting portions of that thread to the Seppuku boards, where all are welcome and I will be linking it there.
Best regards,
Dee
Monday, April 27, 2009
Open Letter to The Students of Eve University
Open Letter to The Students of Eve University
Many of you have expressed questions about why I would choose to participate in a war dec of Uni and why Seppuku has chosen to issue that dec.
Because Seppuku Pilots have been dropped from the scetions of your boards where you are discussing this (understandably), I will use this forum to try and explain it as best I can.
Seppuku has been offered contracts to dec the Uni before and we have turned them down. We have been offered these contracts by multiple folks, all of whom harbored Uni only ill will and had no justification for that animus. They were all turned down.
The current dec is the result of a contract offered under substantially different circumstances and based on other... let's just say.. less than friendly attitudes and actions taken by some members of Uni's current leadership toward us and others, there was no overwhelming reason to stay our hand again. Any possibility of reasonable discussion was quickly dispatched by both deeds and attitudes from both sides.
99.9% of all of this took place behind the scenes, with students seeing only what Uni leadership chose to disclose, as is their prerogative.
So, Seppuku has gone merc?
So, why am I choosing to participate? Have I failed in some duty to babysit Sabre like a 12 year granddaughter? Have I crossed over to the Dark Side and become another of the BAAAAAD MENZ that prey upon the poor poor noobs?
ROFLMAO!
Let's get a few things clear:
I have the utmost respect for Morning Maniac and his vision.
I have the same level of respect for the stated ideals, goals and objectives of Uni.
I strongly believe that Uni is the best place for any new player to start the game.
I am very proud of the time I spent at Uni and continue to be honored to have served there.
When I left Uni, I did so because I felt an increasing level of discomfort with some of the ideas and concepts that were being communicated. There was an increasing level of partisanship, that I freely admit I bought into at first. This 'bunker mentality' permeates and surrounds all. The message was that if you fought Uni, you were destroying the game, you were griefing and mere scum to be despised and disposed of. Internet Spaceships was DAMN SERIOUS and conflict should be approach only in the grave manner normally associated with real world issues of life and death.
But, increasingly, I interacted with those that, according to what was being espoused internally, I should hate, have nothing in common with and be prepared to find only the worst of humanity.
What I found was significantly different.
Most (not all!) were decent folks who didn't have any particular gripe with Uni. They were just out for a little fun with their pixels. They weren't vermin or lowlifes or bottomfeeders.
Trying to reconcile this disconnect (among other 'pinches') left me with the conclusion that I had to leave, at least for a time.
In my time away from Uni, I have learned much (MWD is not optional in 0.0, m'kay?), relearned much (everything in the game is PvP related, just in different guises) and unlearned much (I don't have to hate you to shoot you and just because you shoot me doesn't mean you hate me! It's not personal!).
I have learned that Internet Spaceships is not DAMN SERIOUS, that rearranging pixels on the screen can be great fun and a little smack never hurt anything. Oh yeah, and I learned that Sabre was right about just as many things as I was. ;)
That's all fine, you say, but why are you fighting Uni?
Three reasons:
I fight with my Corpmates.
Because I believe that Uni can serve the new pilots even better than they do today.
Because it will be FUN, win lose or draw.
Respectfully,
Dee Carson
PS: If you want my Director Emeritus medal, you can pry it from my cold, dead, hand.
PPS: Only 20 Million for my corpse? Hell, I'll match that, AK, you slacker! Lol
Thursday, March 26, 2009
A better proposal
No matter how loudly the checker players whine about Falcons sitting out at 200km 'permajamming' and how emphatically they support the currently proposed changes, their real beef is with jam strength.
And the proposed changes do not affect that at all. Falcons are still going to jam an interceptor with one module everytime and have a 94% probability of jamming a cruiser sized hull with 2 modules.
I suggest the following changes that address the real issues, but neither require scrapping the entire mechanic nor assigning another Caldari role to the scrap heap.
1. Decrease base jammer strength 20% across the board (reduced probability of jam).
2. New ECCM module that adds flat 15 points to sensor strength (more anti-jam, particularly for small ships)
3. SDA bonus applies to all EWAR modules (including ECCM, TD, TP & damps)
4. Falcon base optimal/falloff of 45/45 (brings Falcon in closer)
5. Split Cruiser skill bonus to 10/10 for Optimal and Falloff (brings Falcon in closer)
The results from a Falcon pilot's view:
- 17% reduction in jamming strength and 55% reduction in optimal (max jam fit)
or
- 26% reduction in jamming strength and 34% reduction in optimal (max optimal fit)
Falcons won't be as powerful, but they will continue to have a role in fleet/small gang work.
DC
And the proposed changes do not affect that at all. Falcons are still going to jam an interceptor with one module everytime and have a 94% probability of jamming a cruiser sized hull with 2 modules.
I suggest the following changes that address the real issues, but neither require scrapping the entire mechanic nor assigning another Caldari role to the scrap heap.
1. Decrease base jammer strength 20% across the board (reduced probability of jam).
2. New ECCM module that adds flat 15 points to sensor strength (more anti-jam, particularly for small ships)
3. SDA bonus applies to all EWAR modules (including ECCM, TD, TP & damps)
4. Falcon base optimal/falloff of 45/45 (brings Falcon in closer)
5. Split Cruiser skill bonus to 10/10 for Optimal and Falloff (brings Falcon in closer)
The results from a Falcon pilot's view:
- 17% reduction in jamming strength and 55% reduction in optimal (max jam fit)
or
- 26% reduction in jamming strength and 34% reduction in optimal (max optimal fit)
Falcons won't be as powerful, but they will continue to have a role in fleet/small gang work.
DC
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
It's still not Checkers 2.0
CCP Devs have reconsidered at least one facet of the proposed ECM nerf, agreeing that the Falcon's role is that of long range jamming platform.
The nerf methodology of flipping the optimal/falloff stats of jammers will bring me closer to the fight and increase the danger of a missed jam.
However, it in no way affects the probability of me obtaining that jam. In other words, if you were bitching about getting 'permajammed' under the existing rules, you will see absolutely no difference. None. Nada. Zero. Your interceptor is still going to get taken out of the fight every time.
The stealth part of the nerf is the removal of the cap useage bonus. I haven't been able to model that quite yet to determine how severe the hit will be, but it will cause more missed cycles because of dry cap.
Here's my reply in the EO thread:
Once the checker players realize that their short range, one dimensional, total WTFOMGPWNZR mobiles are going to get jammed just as often, you'll see the expressed satisfaction with this proposed nerf drop like a rock.
The nerf methodology of flipping the optimal/falloff stats of jammers will bring me closer to the fight and increase the danger of a missed jam.
However, it in no way affects the probability of me obtaining that jam. In other words, if you were bitching about getting 'permajammed' under the existing rules, you will see absolutely no difference. None. Nada. Zero. Your interceptor is still going to get taken out of the fight every time.
The stealth part of the nerf is the removal of the cap useage bonus. I haven't been able to model that quite yet to determine how severe the hit will be, but it will cause more missed cycles because of dry cap.
Here's my reply in the EO thread:
- With the revised Falcon changes
- With the flip of base optimal and falloff ranges
- With no change in either SDA, PDA or PDP stats
- With fit of 3 SDA + 2 PDP (so max jammer)
- With max related skills
Yields:
Optimal 46% reduction from 227 to 122.
Optimal + Falloff 25 % reduction from 267 to 202
No change in jamming strength which remains at 14.4
The results:
- No change in the probabilities of a jam. If you were on the wrong end of the jam strength vs sensor strength math before, you still are. Repeat, you still are.
- Increased danger related to a missed jam because you are inside engagement range of more OPFOR.
Easy Predictions:
- More Falcons on the field to cover the missed jams.
- Snipers will be the next nerf target, because with engagement ranges > any other ship on the field, the whines will start all over again.
Sorry CCP, but these changes won't obtain the result you seem to be after.
Once the checker players realize that their short range, one dimensional, total WTFOMGPWNZR mobiles are going to get jammed just as often, you'll see the expressed satisfaction with this proposed nerf drop like a rock.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Chess vs Checkers
Checkers is an easy game, really. There’s a bit of strategy involved, but no one writes books about it. You don’t see checkers columns in the newspapers and the World Checker Champion isn’t though of as being particularly brilliant.
Take a checker player & put him on a chess board and things just don’t seem fair to him. The rules are different and the way to win is no longer straight forward. Confronted with this situation, most folks either learn to play chess (appreciating it for what it is) or return to checkers (playing what they enjoy). Few resort to calling for changes in the rules of chess to make it into Checkers 2.0.
These days, in Eve Online, it seems the Devs are listening to the checker players.
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1032703
Yes, I’m a dedicated, maxed out Falcon pilot with months of invested training time, get that out of the way from the beginning.
However, the implication that Falcons are so overpowered that they need to be drastically changed is simply wrong. And wrong on several levels.
The role of the Falcon is that of force multiplier. It’s weapons are stealth and denying the enemy the ability to inflict damage. It has no tank and laughable DPS. The Falcon rewards pilots, FC’s and corps that understand tactics, that have the patience to prepare the battlefield and have the situational awareness to know when it’s time to move. Falcon’s are for chessmasters, not checker players.
Falcons are extremely vulnerable on their own. With no tank, minimal DPS and no drone bay, there are many ways to get a Falcon pilot to leave the battlefield, denying his force multiplier effect to your OPFOR. Bring your own Falcon or have a cruiser with combat probes ready to drop 1 short range probe, establish a warp in and insta-pop the Falcon or send an interceptor with a flight of Warrior II’s assigned out to the Falcon or warp your own set of anti-Falcon snipers into the fight after the Falcon is revealed or fit an ECCM module. Being ready to counter Falcons requires preparation and planning, but it is not impossible. It’s for chessmasters, not checker players.
And even if the foregoing wasn’t true, the proposed changes will not have the desired result.
To balance things out, Falcons will lose the range advantage, but will get more jam strength, more tank, more agility and more DPS.
And the checker players _like_ this?
Instead of reducing the number of Falcon pilots flying in small gangs, this will actually increase their proportionate representation. If you increase my jam strength 25%, then the number of jammers I need to be ready to apply to a representative battleship target to have a 94% probability of a successful jam drops from 3 modules to 2. So, 94% of the time my 6 jammer set up can service 3 battleship targets now, instead of just 2. What about cruisers and HAC’s? 1 jammer need now for 93% probability of success instead of 2.
Does this sound like a nerf to you?
For those that think that Falcons are overpowered in their effectiveness, I’d suggest you support a combination of the following easy changes:
1. Shorten the jam cycle
2. Reduce the base strength of all jammer modules by 10%
3. Reduce the optimal range bonuses by 5KM per level
4. Introduce scripts to Signal Distortion Amplifiers, 1 for optimal, 1 for strength
The results would bring Falcons closer to the fight and with a lowered probability of success. That is what you want, right?
PK-4
Take a checker player & put him on a chess board and things just don’t seem fair to him. The rules are different and the way to win is no longer straight forward. Confronted with this situation, most folks either learn to play chess (appreciating it for what it is) or return to checkers (playing what they enjoy). Few resort to calling for changes in the rules of chess to make it into Checkers 2.0.
These days, in Eve Online, it seems the Devs are listening to the checker players.
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1032703
Yes, I’m a dedicated, maxed out Falcon pilot with months of invested training time, get that out of the way from the beginning.
However, the implication that Falcons are so overpowered that they need to be drastically changed is simply wrong. And wrong on several levels.
The role of the Falcon is that of force multiplier. It’s weapons are stealth and denying the enemy the ability to inflict damage. It has no tank and laughable DPS. The Falcon rewards pilots, FC’s and corps that understand tactics, that have the patience to prepare the battlefield and have the situational awareness to know when it’s time to move. Falcon’s are for chessmasters, not checker players.
Falcons are extremely vulnerable on their own. With no tank, minimal DPS and no drone bay, there are many ways to get a Falcon pilot to leave the battlefield, denying his force multiplier effect to your OPFOR. Bring your own Falcon or have a cruiser with combat probes ready to drop 1 short range probe, establish a warp in and insta-pop the Falcon or send an interceptor with a flight of Warrior II’s assigned out to the Falcon or warp your own set of anti-Falcon snipers into the fight after the Falcon is revealed or fit an ECCM module. Being ready to counter Falcons requires preparation and planning, but it is not impossible. It’s for chessmasters, not checker players.
And even if the foregoing wasn’t true, the proposed changes will not have the desired result.
To balance things out, Falcons will lose the range advantage, but will get more jam strength, more tank, more agility and more DPS.
And the checker players _like_ this?
Instead of reducing the number of Falcon pilots flying in small gangs, this will actually increase their proportionate representation. If you increase my jam strength 25%, then the number of jammers I need to be ready to apply to a representative battleship target to have a 94% probability of a successful jam drops from 3 modules to 2. So, 94% of the time my 6 jammer set up can service 3 battleship targets now, instead of just 2. What about cruisers and HAC’s? 1 jammer need now for 93% probability of success instead of 2.
Does this sound like a nerf to you?
For those that think that Falcons are overpowered in their effectiveness, I’d suggest you support a combination of the following easy changes:
1. Shorten the jam cycle
2. Reduce the base strength of all jammer modules by 10%
3. Reduce the optimal range bonuses by 5KM per level
4. Introduce scripts to Signal Distortion Amplifiers, 1 for optimal, 1 for strength
The results would bring Falcons closer to the fight and with a lowered probability of success. That is what you want, right?
PK-4
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Flying a Falcon: the 3 F's
Everything you need to know about flying a Falcon can be summarized by remembering the 3 F’s: Fit, Forethought, and Finesse.
Fit
Hi slots: Cov Ops Cloak. Everything else is optional. Probe launcher? Sure, but no ship bonuses, so your scans will take time. Heavy launchers? Ok, but if you are actually putting DPS on someone, you are either in very small gang flight against 1 guy or things have gone horribly bad. Remote armor reppers will earn you some ‘after the battle’ love, but are of no use during the engagement. Salvager, meh. Whatever. The cloak is the reason for the ship. Training Recons to 4 helps a great deal, but I didn’t even consider a probe launcher until I got to Recon 5.
Mid slots: 1X MicroWarpDrive, 1X Sensor Booster II, 4x Racial Jammers. 1X ECCM _or_ 5th racial jammer. The idea is to carry as many jammers as possible. MWD is a given. Sensor booster for quick lock on any other jammers on the field. ECCM if OPFOR is known to fly their own Falcons. Racial jammers in every remaining slot. Double up on known OPFOR favorite ship type.
Low slots: 2x Signal Distortion Amplifiers, 1X Tank (DCU II or 1600 plate) _or_ 3rd SDA.
Rigs: 1X Particle Disruption Projector (jam range) plus either 1x Particle Dispersion Augmentor (jam strength) if you fit tank in lows or 1X additional Particle Disruption Projector (jam range).
The goal is to obtain an engagement envelope in excess of 150-175km and then to maximize your jam strength at that range. Jamming is purely chance based and calculated by looking at the ratio of jam strength to target ship sensor strength. For example, my max jam strength for Gallente in my preferred fit is 14.52. Kaye’s Vexor has sensor strength of 14. 14.52 / 14 > 1, so I would perma jam Kaye’s Vexor. Kaye’s base Onerios has sensor strength of 20. 14.52/20 = 72% probability of a jam. Add an ECCM module to that Onerios and things get ugly (sensor strength goes to 36, probability falls to 40%). Add 3 and sensor strength goes to 89, with probability of 16%.
Megathron’s base sensor strength of 21 gives me about a 70% chance of a jam.
Key concept is that this probability is independent (ie the results of one ‘roll’ have no impact on the next) and is determined separately for each jammer. Quick and dirty method to approximate your total chance of jamming a given target with N number of jammers is to multiply all of the chances of a ‘miss’ and subtract from 1.
So, using our plain Mega or Onerios and 3 Gallente jammers we get:
Jammer 1 - 30% independent - 30% Cum Miss
Jammer 2 - 30% independent - 09% Cum Miss
Jammer 3 - 30% independent - 03% Cum Miss
If you think about it, this also hints toward why I never fly multispecs.
Forethought
If you have an established base, then you should have tons of bookmarks at your preferred jamming range. For stations, that’s usually measured from the undock point. You want book marks in all directions from that spot and, you want them to all be warpable from each spot. Six is a good minimum number to work toward. High, low, left, right, back, front. Have an offgrid spot or two and you are set.
Secondly, spend time on the OPFOR’s killboard if you can. Figure out what ships their main pilots fly and if there is an overall favorite race. If so, that tells you how to weight your jammers.
Finesse
Get in the mindset of the young Muhammad Ali. Long range jabs of power. Nimble. Moving about the battlespace, out of range of the other guy, frustrating his ability to hurt you (or your fleet mates). Don’t uncloak too soon. Always be moving. Co-ordinate jams with other Falcon pilots. Be alert for ‘ceptors! When they start heading your way, prepare to warp to the other side of the battlespace (using one of those handy bookmarks!) or to bounce off your offgrid & come back.
Prioritize your jamming. Put your racial matches where they will do the most good first, then follow up by putting anything left back on the target that you wish to have jammed the most.
Don’t initially jam targets that are sitting on the undock point or a gate. You want them to aggress so that they have a timer.
Don’t spam all the jammers you have allocated to a target at once. Hit one, wait 5 or 10 secs and then hit the next one. You want to minimize the amount of time between ‘rolls’.
Hope you find something useful here!
Fit
Hi slots: Cov Ops Cloak. Everything else is optional. Probe launcher? Sure, but no ship bonuses, so your scans will take time. Heavy launchers? Ok, but if you are actually putting DPS on someone, you are either in very small gang flight against 1 guy or things have gone horribly bad. Remote armor reppers will earn you some ‘after the battle’ love, but are of no use during the engagement. Salvager, meh. Whatever. The cloak is the reason for the ship. Training Recons to 4 helps a great deal, but I didn’t even consider a probe launcher until I got to Recon 5.
Mid slots: 1X MicroWarpDrive, 1X Sensor Booster II, 4x Racial Jammers. 1X ECCM _or_ 5th racial jammer. The idea is to carry as many jammers as possible. MWD is a given. Sensor booster for quick lock on any other jammers on the field. ECCM if OPFOR is known to fly their own Falcons. Racial jammers in every remaining slot. Double up on known OPFOR favorite ship type.
Low slots: 2x Signal Distortion Amplifiers, 1X Tank (DCU II or 1600 plate) _or_ 3rd SDA.
Rigs: 1X Particle Disruption Projector (jam range) plus either 1x Particle Dispersion Augmentor (jam strength) if you fit tank in lows or 1X additional Particle Disruption Projector (jam range).
The goal is to obtain an engagement envelope in excess of 150-175km and then to maximize your jam strength at that range. Jamming is purely chance based and calculated by looking at the ratio of jam strength to target ship sensor strength. For example, my max jam strength for Gallente in my preferred fit is 14.52. Kaye’s Vexor has sensor strength of 14. 14.52 / 14 > 1, so I would perma jam Kaye’s Vexor. Kaye’s base Onerios has sensor strength of 20. 14.52/20 = 72% probability of a jam. Add an ECCM module to that Onerios and things get ugly (sensor strength goes to 36, probability falls to 40%). Add 3 and sensor strength goes to 89, with probability of 16%.
Megathron’s base sensor strength of 21 gives me about a 70% chance of a jam.
Key concept is that this probability is independent (ie the results of one ‘roll’ have no impact on the next) and is determined separately for each jammer. Quick and dirty method to approximate your total chance of jamming a given target with N number of jammers is to multiply all of the chances of a ‘miss’ and subtract from 1.
So, using our plain Mega or Onerios and 3 Gallente jammers we get:
Jammer 1 - 30% independent - 30% Cum Miss
Jammer 2 - 30% independent - 09% Cum Miss
Jammer 3 - 30% independent - 03% Cum Miss
If you think about it, this also hints toward why I never fly multispecs.
Forethought
If you have an established base, then you should have tons of bookmarks at your preferred jamming range. For stations, that’s usually measured from the undock point. You want book marks in all directions from that spot and, you want them to all be warpable from each spot. Six is a good minimum number to work toward. High, low, left, right, back, front. Have an offgrid spot or two and you are set.
Secondly, spend time on the OPFOR’s killboard if you can. Figure out what ships their main pilots fly and if there is an overall favorite race. If so, that tells you how to weight your jammers.
Finesse
Get in the mindset of the young Muhammad Ali. Long range jabs of power. Nimble. Moving about the battlespace, out of range of the other guy, frustrating his ability to hurt you (or your fleet mates). Don’t uncloak too soon. Always be moving. Co-ordinate jams with other Falcon pilots. Be alert for ‘ceptors! When they start heading your way, prepare to warp to the other side of the battlespace (using one of those handy bookmarks!) or to bounce off your offgrid & come back.
Prioritize your jamming. Put your racial matches where they will do the most good first, then follow up by putting anything left back on the target that you wish to have jammed the most.
Don’t initially jam targets that are sitting on the undock point or a gate. You want them to aggress so that they have a timer.
Don’t spam all the jammers you have allocated to a target at once. Hit one, wait 5 or 10 secs and then hit the next one. You want to minimize the amount of time between ‘rolls’.
Hope you find something useful here!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
End of War One
Seppuku Warriors has concluded our first campaign and the results were satisfying.
58 kills / 2 losses.
There was a little bit of everything, too. We flew battleship fleets, 'ceptor gangs & pretty much everything in between. Practical instruction on tactical bookmarking, station humping, remote repping and the use of OOC reppers, POS takedowns and the appropriate use of GF in local.
Personally, I flew almost everything in my hangar at some point, grabbing kills in some of my favorites (Can't Stop The Rokh!), protecting my mates from the shadows or savoring the 'new ship smell' of the latest addition to my HAC fleet ("He can't hit me from way out there with miss[BLAMMM]...").
Having finished off Recon V during the war, I'm beginning the process of cross-training some Minnie ships. Since all of my gunnery support skills work for projectiles as well as rails, getting to T2 fitted Minnie 'ceptors and assault frigates is just a few days training.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Too Long Gone...
The past few weeks have been filed past the brim, overflowing with activities, issues and time sinks, both in RL & in EVE. I hope that things get back to something approaching normal soon. We shall see.
Seppuku Warriors is off to a rousing start. We are currently involved in a series of war decs with a Caldari Faction Warfare corp, applying the ancient axioms of warfare with internet spaceship interpretations...
This week's lessons:
"The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans"
and
“He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.” ... Sun Tzu
OPFOR's research division operated a high-sec medium POS, which fit well into our desire to discuss hi-sec POS tactics. OPFOR enlisted FW militia OOC repper support for the POS attack that they anticipated we would field as soon as the dec went active.
So, we made a big show of forming up a few jumps out, docking & undocking various big ships, testing RR capabilties, showing (almost!) our full hand to their alts.
And we sat there. And we waited.
After a few minutes, OPFOR decided abandon their defensive stance (including the protection of the POS shields/guns) and to come calling with 5X Ravens, a Rokh, a Scorp, a Blackbird and at least an equal number of OOC reppers and support ships. They warped to the station where our battleship section was docked and (curiously) began to activate their RR chains (which flagged most of the OOC reppers to us before the battle was joined!).
Our battleships undocked and OPFOR aggressed at the undock point. Our support fleet warped in with points & webs. Our EW broke the OOC repper chains. We lost a Scorp that got tangled up in the furball at the undock and a Falcon who jammed one of the OOC guys who wasn't flagged. In exchange, all of the OPFOR's ships went pop in less than 5 minutes, along with a few of the OOC reppers who stuck around too long and served as dessert after we had finished with the main course.
Then we followed them home and put the POS in reinforced, adding the POS, a cruiser, a battlecruiser, a logistics ship and two more battleships to the bag by the time the tower fell the next day.
Yeah, we had fun! :)
Seppuku Warriors is off to a rousing start. We are currently involved in a series of war decs with a Caldari Faction Warfare corp, applying the ancient axioms of warfare with internet spaceship interpretations...
This week's lessons:
"The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans"
and
“He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.” ... Sun Tzu
OPFOR's research division operated a high-sec medium POS, which fit well into our desire to discuss hi-sec POS tactics. OPFOR enlisted FW militia OOC repper support for the POS attack that they anticipated we would field as soon as the dec went active.
So, we made a big show of forming up a few jumps out, docking & undocking various big ships, testing RR capabilties, showing (almost!) our full hand to their alts.
And we sat there. And we waited.
After a few minutes, OPFOR decided abandon their defensive stance (including the protection of the POS shields/guns) and to come calling with 5X Ravens, a Rokh, a Scorp, a Blackbird and at least an equal number of OOC reppers and support ships. They warped to the station where our battleship section was docked and (curiously) began to activate their RR chains (which flagged most of the OOC reppers to us before the battle was joined!).
Our battleships undocked and OPFOR aggressed at the undock point. Our support fleet warped in with points & webs. Our EW broke the OOC repper chains. We lost a Scorp that got tangled up in the furball at the undock and a Falcon who jammed one of the OOC guys who wasn't flagged. In exchange, all of the OPFOR's ships went pop in less than 5 minutes, along with a few of the OOC reppers who stuck around too long and served as dessert after we had finished with the main course.
Then we followed them home and put the POS in reinforced, adding the POS, a cruiser, a battlecruiser, a logistics ship and two more battleships to the bag by the time the tower fell the next day.
Yeah, we had fun! :)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Having a blast!
Our first set of students starts tomorrow and we have been having some great fun in the 'soft opening' phase! Lots of explosions! Some ours, some theirs, but lots of fun and everyone involved (including yours truly!) is learning about how much different 0.0 combat is from Empire.
The other really fun thing is to see how many talented artists that we have. I'm including a few samples of what great sigs our guys have built for our internal forums. m0rd0 was kind enough to give me permission to steal the base image of his sig as a new banner for this site. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do:
The other really fun thing is to see how many talented artists that we have. I'm including a few samples of what great sigs our guys have built for our internal forums. m0rd0 was kind enough to give me permission to steal the base image of his sig as a new banner for this site. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do:
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Incoming! BLU-82D The Drama Bomb!
Mynxee proposes Topic 2 in her ongoing discussion round table:
The Corp Drama Bomb
Ah, yes! The dreaded, despised, demoralizing, but inevitable, drama bomb. Sustenance to forum trolls and laxative to the tightest 4th points of contact in the Universe! Nothing compares to the deliciousness of the well played drama bomb.
Having experienced my share of drama bombs during my tenure of leadership at Eve University, I'll share a few observations about leadership responses.
First of all, recognize that, just as in real life, interpersonal conflict is inevitable. No matter how tight your group, no matter how long you've know each other or how much you care for one another, at some point there will arise an issue that upsets the apple cart. Knowing that such conflict is coming, how are you planning on dealing with it? Having any kind of plan forces you to think ahead of time, rather than just reacting. Planning also lets you examine alternatives without the time crunch of crisis.
Secondly, unlike real life for most of us, EVE puts you in an environment where many of the people that you interact with don't share your same native language, idioms, culture and values. Slang terms for innocuous items in your culture (say a British slang term for cigarettes) may be inflammatory to someone from another country who hears or reads a comment out of context. Not to mention the inherent communication problems that arise when a native German speaker tries to translate his thoughts on the fly to English and pass them to a native Spanish speaker who is mentally going from English to Spanish. The EVE universe has so many built in opportunities to mis-communicate, it's crazy! You must communicate simply, clearly and as often as possible in order to defuse the drama bomb.
Thirdly, just as in real live, recognize that everyone's position, feelings, outlook and attitudes contains a kernel of truth. Trying to find as many of those kernels from the same species as possible in any contentious situation helps everyone to see things from the other persons point of view.
Finally, again mirroring real life, decisions made in anger and haste rarely turn out well for anyone involved. Particularly when dealing with forum posts, I invoke the One Hour Rule. I compose my response and save the draft. I come back to it an hour later and if it still seems reasonable, I post it. Sometimes, just taking a breath can turn a drama bomb into a drama hand grenade. Still unpleasant, to be sure, but less likely to take out the whole group.
tldr version:
- Have a plan
- Communicate
- Shut up & listen
- Anger & the 'enter' key rarely work well together
The Corp Drama Bomb
So I ask you, dear readers, to ponder the corp drama bomb. What IS the most common cause? Are drama bombs inevitable due to the nature of life in New Eden? Are there early warning signs? Are some corps more prone to drama bombs than others, and if so, why? Can corps avoid the drama bomb and if so, how? How can a corp best recover from a drama bomb? Have you experienced a drama bomb that blew up your corp and if so, what did you learn from that experience?
OK--the floor's open. Share your own thoughts, opinions, experiences, and ideas
Ah, yes! The dreaded, despised, demoralizing, but inevitable, drama bomb. Sustenance to forum trolls and laxative to the tightest 4th points of contact in the Universe! Nothing compares to the deliciousness of the well played drama bomb.
Having experienced my share of drama bombs during my tenure of leadership at Eve University, I'll share a few observations about leadership responses.
First of all, recognize that, just as in real life, interpersonal conflict is inevitable. No matter how tight your group, no matter how long you've know each other or how much you care for one another, at some point there will arise an issue that upsets the apple cart. Knowing that such conflict is coming, how are you planning on dealing with it? Having any kind of plan forces you to think ahead of time, rather than just reacting. Planning also lets you examine alternatives without the time crunch of crisis.
Secondly, unlike real life for most of us, EVE puts you in an environment where many of the people that you interact with don't share your same native language, idioms, culture and values. Slang terms for innocuous items in your culture (say a British slang term for cigarettes) may be inflammatory to someone from another country who hears or reads a comment out of context. Not to mention the inherent communication problems that arise when a native German speaker tries to translate his thoughts on the fly to English and pass them to a native Spanish speaker who is mentally going from English to Spanish. The EVE universe has so many built in opportunities to mis-communicate, it's crazy! You must communicate simply, clearly and as often as possible in order to defuse the drama bomb.
Thirdly, just as in real live, recognize that everyone's position, feelings, outlook and attitudes contains a kernel of truth. Trying to find as many of those kernels from the same species as possible in any contentious situation helps everyone to see things from the other persons point of view.
Finally, again mirroring real life, decisions made in anger and haste rarely turn out well for anyone involved. Particularly when dealing with forum posts, I invoke the One Hour Rule. I compose my response and save the draft. I come back to it an hour later and if it still seems reasonable, I post it. Sometimes, just taking a breath can turn a drama bomb into a drama hand grenade. Still unpleasant, to be sure, but less likely to take out the whole group.
tldr version:
- Have a plan
- Communicate
- Shut up & listen
- Anger & the 'enter' key rarely work well together
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Startup fun....
Seppuku Warriors is getting off to a quick start.
There are lots of things to think about when you get ready to spin up a new 'open to the public' group.
Some are infrastructure related: Website. Killboard. Voice Com server. API tools. We are very lucky to have m0rd0 as one of our founders. He's an IT wizzard and had many of these items sorted before the rest of us were done making the list!
Some are communication related: Seppuku Warriors FAQ
Some are vanity, like all the cool artwork that folks have put together for sigs and banners.
Some are logistical. Like how to get a crapton of 'stuff' from Korsiki to Stacmon, not just for yourself, but for the new guys, too. Freighter/Orca alt FTW!
The sense of anticipation is growing and we've started accepting applications for the limited number of slots that will be made available at first. As a management team, we want to start small for lots of reasons and control our growth as we go forward.
If you are interested, the FAQ should answer your questions. If I missed something, post a comment here, PM me on the SW homepage, convo me in game or Eve Mail me.
There are lots of things to think about when you get ready to spin up a new 'open to the public' group.
Some are infrastructure related: Website. Killboard. Voice Com server. API tools. We are very lucky to have m0rd0 as one of our founders. He's an IT wizzard and had many of these items sorted before the rest of us were done making the list!
Some are communication related: Seppuku Warriors FAQ
Some are vanity, like all the cool artwork that folks have put together for sigs and banners.
Some are logistical. Like how to get a crapton of 'stuff' from Korsiki to Stacmon, not just for yourself, but for the new guys, too. Freighter/Orca alt FTW!
The sense of anticipation is growing and we've started accepting applications for the limited number of slots that will be made available at first. As a management team, we want to start small for lots of reasons and control our growth as we go forward.
If you are interested, the FAQ should answer your questions. If I missed something, post a comment here, PM me on the SW homepage, convo me in game or Eve Mail me.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
An All-Star Line Up...
Seppuku Warriors' PvP Instructors
One of the reasons I was excited about helping Sabre start Seppuku Warriors was the vision of including acknowledged PvP experts as a part of our cadre of instructors.
I think these fit the bill:
Sir Molle(EVOL) - CEO and Leader Of The Band of Brothers Alliance
KOTH Fluf(SHIVA) - CEO, NC Senior FC and Ex Leader of Morsus Mihi, VC and FA
Rooman(ANZAC) - CEO and Leader Of Southern Cross Alliance
00Tricky(RKK) - Director of Reikoku and GBC Senior FC
There are a couple of other folks that have yet to confirm, and of course our founders have chops of their own, but these name should be enough to tweak the interest level.
Obviously, these pilots will be represented by alts. No one could expect otherwise, but the key idea is that these guys are setting aside the political positions of their mains in order to teach small gang PvP to less experienced pilots.
Could it be that even the Big Guys still like to blow stuff up?
One of the reasons I was excited about helping Sabre start Seppuku Warriors was the vision of including acknowledged PvP experts as a part of our cadre of instructors.
I think these fit the bill:
Sir Molle(EVOL) - CEO and Leader Of The Band of Brothers Alliance
KOTH Fluf(SHIVA) - CEO, NC Senior FC and Ex Leader of Morsus Mihi, VC and FA
Rooman(ANZAC) - CEO and Leader Of Southern Cross Alliance
00Tricky(RKK) - Director of Reikoku and GBC Senior FC
There are a couple of other folks that have yet to confirm, and of course our founders have chops of their own, but these name should be enough to tweak the interest level.
Obviously, these pilots will be represented by alts. No one could expect otherwise, but the key idea is that these guys are setting aside the political positions of their mains in order to teach small gang PvP to less experienced pilots.
Could it be that even the Big Guys still like to blow stuff up?
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Solo in 0.0... Oh My!
As a recon pilot, one of the things that I need in my bag of tricks is a bunch of bookmarks. When I go to a new FOB or execute a PCS (like moving from Korsiki to Stacmon), one of the first things I do is take an interceptor and a CovOps frigate & start making those bookmarks. Multiple safespots, station spots, undock spots, snipes for the belts, gates & stations. It's a PITA. But it's all a part of preparing the battlefield.
I aslo like to have bookmarks in the nearby systems where I expect to be active, so last night, I chinched up tight, took an extra wrap on my rope hand, boarded my Buzzard & headed off for 0.0.
Alone.
Now, I've been in 0.0 a fair amount of time with Uni fleets in many different roles. So I've been alone in a system before, but it's always been with 40-50 of my mates right behind me as a security blanket. Not this time.
I fully expected to lose my ship (and stripped it of all the 'good stuff' before setting out) and perhaps to wake up back in Korsiki, but I had work to do, so off I went.
It was interesting. From an observational perspective, there were far fewer pilots than I expected. Most systems had only a few. And it was quiet. Not much banter in local, even in the more populated systems. The belts were.... Amazing. That's the only word that I can use. As a miner, you get a sense of the size of the rocks. How big they should look when you are in mining range. That perception caused my first 'OH NOES!' moment of the trip. I warped into the first belt at 100 just to take a quick look. I dropped out of warp with an Eos on the overview and a veld rock that made me think I had mis-clicked and warped to the belt at zero. I was waiting for my cloak to drop and my ship to go 'poof'. Nothing happens. I regain enough composure to notice that the EOS is 75km from me, swap to my mining tab & see that the veld rock that I tought I was on top of was really 135km away. It was a moon! Clearly, no one mines much veld out here! ;)
From a personal persepective, it felt different... In Empire, travel is routine during peacetime and during wartime Uni intel is so good that I always knew where any nearby WT was before I undocked. So, I felt relatively safe.
This was different. At one point, I was alone in a system, making an OP bookmark on a gate at 150+ km. Multiple gate fires and all of a sudden I'm looking at 20+ red flashies right in front of me! O_O
The feelings called back to my first days in EVE when I had figured out that there were players that would shoot me and my little Merlin just because they could. It felt dangerous!
It was the most fun I'd had in a long time!
After a couple of hours of roaming, it was time to head back through low sec to our base. On the way, one pilot, who had seen me several times, and I had this exchange:
Pilot: "Carson, I don't know your new corp."
Me: "You will."
;)
I aslo like to have bookmarks in the nearby systems where I expect to be active, so last night, I chinched up tight, took an extra wrap on my rope hand, boarded my Buzzard & headed off for 0.0.
Alone.
Now, I've been in 0.0 a fair amount of time with Uni fleets in many different roles. So I've been alone in a system before, but it's always been with 40-50 of my mates right behind me as a security blanket. Not this time.
I fully expected to lose my ship (and stripped it of all the 'good stuff' before setting out) and perhaps to wake up back in Korsiki, but I had work to do, so off I went.
It was interesting. From an observational perspective, there were far fewer pilots than I expected. Most systems had only a few. And it was quiet. Not much banter in local, even in the more populated systems. The belts were.... Amazing. That's the only word that I can use. As a miner, you get a sense of the size of the rocks. How big they should look when you are in mining range. That perception caused my first 'OH NOES!' moment of the trip. I warped into the first belt at 100 just to take a quick look. I dropped out of warp with an Eos on the overview and a veld rock that made me think I had mis-clicked and warped to the belt at zero. I was waiting for my cloak to drop and my ship to go 'poof'. Nothing happens. I regain enough composure to notice that the EOS is 75km from me, swap to my mining tab & see that the veld rock that I tought I was on top of was really 135km away. It was a moon! Clearly, no one mines much veld out here! ;)
From a personal persepective, it felt different... In Empire, travel is routine during peacetime and during wartime Uni intel is so good that I always knew where any nearby WT was before I undocked. So, I felt relatively safe.
This was different. At one point, I was alone in a system, making an OP bookmark on a gate at 150+ km. Multiple gate fires and all of a sudden I'm looking at 20+ red flashies right in front of me! O_O
The feelings called back to my first days in EVE when I had figured out that there were players that would shoot me and my little Merlin just because they could. It felt dangerous!
It was the most fun I'd had in a long time!
After a couple of hours of roaming, it was time to head back through low sec to our base. On the way, one pilot, who had seen me several times, and I had this exchange:
Pilot: "Carson, I don't know your new corp."
Me: "You will."
;)
Friday, January 16, 2009
Time to blow up stuff...
What do you do when your maxed out as a miner? When those fangs that used to come out only for war decs now seem to itch all the time? When, like Bill, you struggle to control the blood lust? When, at the same time, you are conflicted by the desire to continue to teach and be of service to the EVE Community?
For me, the answer is help my friend Sabre A (yes, that Sabre A!) start a brand new PvP training corp: Seppuku Warriors.
Our vision is simple: we intend to teach pilots how to blow stuff up.
At this point, I cannot disclose the names of all of the pilots who will be serving as instructors, but I can tell you that our staff will include some of the most recognizable, experienced and respected PvP pilots in the game, from all sides of the current galactic conflict. If you are a student, you will be learning from the best.
Seppuku Warriors FAQ
See you soon!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Discussion #1: ECM Countermeasures
From my favorite Lady Pirate:
Discussion #1: ECM Countermeasures
The core question is how to deal with OPFOR ECM ships. As a dedicated Falcon pilot, I'll take a swing at providing some insight.
I'll start with this: Fitting all your ships with ECCM gives me the win before I undock. Just don't.
Make sure you understand your goal. Do you want to kill me or is it enough to make me disengage so that you can kill my mates? Tactics always are a function of objectives.
Killing me usually means I've made a mistake. I decloaked too early in the engagement or too close. I didn't hold back that last jammer as a hole card. I wasn't moving and aligned to a 'Get Out Of Dodge' spot. If I've played the situation right, you are going to have to be very lucky to be able to drop a tackler on me. Falcons range tank and jam tank and have to have cap to live. Denied those three items, a Falcon goes 'pop' pretty darn fast.
Making me disengage is easier, because I have to honor the threat. If you have lots of points on the primary & secondary, send your interceptors my way. Warrior II's assigned to a Taranis are a nightmare. Counter-jamming with your own Falcon turns the engagement into a roll of the dice and I'll bounce out and back to force a re-roll if I'm unlucky. And if you have a Curse, you'll make me move quickly and often. Every time I'm forced to disengage, you open a window for your team to kill my mates.
Unless another Falcon uncloaks when I have to leave... ;)
Discussion #1: ECM Countermeasures
The core question is how to deal with OPFOR ECM ships. As a dedicated Falcon pilot, I'll take a swing at providing some insight.
I'll start with this: Fitting all your ships with ECCM gives me the win before I undock. Just don't.
Make sure you understand your goal. Do you want to kill me or is it enough to make me disengage so that you can kill my mates? Tactics always are a function of objectives.
Killing me usually means I've made a mistake. I decloaked too early in the engagement or too close. I didn't hold back that last jammer as a hole card. I wasn't moving and aligned to a 'Get Out Of Dodge' spot. If I've played the situation right, you are going to have to be very lucky to be able to drop a tackler on me. Falcons range tank and jam tank and have to have cap to live. Denied those three items, a Falcon goes 'pop' pretty darn fast.
Making me disengage is easier, because I have to honor the threat. If you have lots of points on the primary & secondary, send your interceptors my way. Warrior II's assigned to a Taranis are a nightmare. Counter-jamming with your own Falcon turns the engagement into a roll of the dice and I'll bounce out and back to force a re-roll if I'm unlucky. And if you have a Curse, you'll make me move quickly and often. Every time I'm forced to disengage, you open a window for your team to kill my mates.
Unless another Falcon uncloaks when I have to leave... ;)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Here A POS, There A POS, Everywhere a POS!
When I stepped down from Eve University, one of the items I had on my list was to drop my own research POS. I had a number of BPO's that I bought in the past and used the 2Know POS to research them up a bit, so at least two battleship BPO's could immediately produce BPC's for sale. I read a number of the POS Guides that my fellow bloggers have produced and began my own checklist.
I looked at my standings to the Caldari State and thought that I'd be able to drop in Korsiki. What I didn't know then, was that the standings that count are not the skill adjusted (6.15 or so, as I recall), but the raw standings (5.88 at the time).
The thing that surprised me the most was how many inactive POS towers there are in space. Since they are still anchored, they can only be removed by their owner, but even in their inactive state, they prevent another POS from being dropped. In many systems that I surveyed, the majority of the moons were covered by inactive towers. Bummer...
But, at the end of the day, I found a spot where I could drop my small tower & 2 labs. I rolled a research alt and we've started cranking out BPC's to cover the fuel bill while researching a second set of BPO's up to an acceptable level so they can be copied, too.
I also discovered a great use for all those random loyalty points: charters. At 5 LP / charter these are a great value and, unlike many of the other LP redemptions, you don't have to add cash or other items to get what you want.
With all of the research copy slots full of my own work, I'm considering what to do with the invention slots. Renting them out would be an option, but I don't really want to let other people in to CACL, so they may sit idle for now.
The numbers indicate that I should recover my POS investment in about 2-3 months, but that's only because I already had BPO's ready to copy. If you are contemplating dropping your own POS for a similar use, be sure you include the cost of BPO's and the fuel cost for the time required to research them to a marketable level, along with the POS hardware cost in your isk needs. All of a sudden, that 200k-300k isk investment becomes 1.5B to 2.5B isk. And that, my friends, is a different kettle of fish! ;)
I looked at my standings to the Caldari State and thought that I'd be able to drop in Korsiki. What I didn't know then, was that the standings that count are not the skill adjusted (6.15 or so, as I recall), but the raw standings (5.88 at the time).
The thing that surprised me the most was how many inactive POS towers there are in space. Since they are still anchored, they can only be removed by their owner, but even in their inactive state, they prevent another POS from being dropped. In many systems that I surveyed, the majority of the moons were covered by inactive towers. Bummer...
But, at the end of the day, I found a spot where I could drop my small tower & 2 labs. I rolled a research alt and we've started cranking out BPC's to cover the fuel bill while researching a second set of BPO's up to an acceptable level so they can be copied, too.
I also discovered a great use for all those random loyalty points: charters. At 5 LP / charter these are a great value and, unlike many of the other LP redemptions, you don't have to add cash or other items to get what you want.
With all of the research copy slots full of my own work, I'm considering what to do with the invention slots. Renting them out would be an option, but I don't really want to let other people in to CACL, so they may sit idle for now.
The numbers indicate that I should recover my POS investment in about 2-3 months, but that's only because I already had BPO's ready to copy. If you are contemplating dropping your own POS for a similar use, be sure you include the cost of BPO's and the fuel cost for the time required to research them to a marketable level, along with the POS hardware cost in your isk needs. All of a sudden, that 200k-300k isk investment becomes 1.5B to 2.5B isk. And that, my friends, is a different kettle of fish! ;)
Monday, January 12, 2009
RL Update: Back Home and Thank you!
My Father-In-Law has returned home and so have I. He continues to improve on a daily basis and the familial focus has moved beyond the immediate to the long term as we seek to find the courses of action that provide him with a satisfying lifestyle without putting him at risk. Your thoughts and prayers were (and continue to be) greatly appreciated by all of the family.
The LT has a new assignment in Iraq as the platoon leader for the Brigade 6's personal security detail. He will also get promoted to 1st Lt in a few days. Rumors swirl that their deployment will be cut short of the 15 month standard. My advice to daughter and wife has been to plan for 15 months unless and until he deplanes in CONUS with the rest of 4BCT 1CAV.
I'll post a separate EVE update later today and will only tease with this:
The LT has a new assignment in Iraq as the platoon leader for the Brigade 6's personal security detail. He will also get promoted to 1st Lt in a few days. Rumors swirl that their deployment will be cut short of the 15 month standard. My advice to daughter and wife has been to plan for 15 months unless and until he deplanes in CONUS with the rest of 4BCT 1CAV.
I'll post a separate EVE update later today and will only tease with this:
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